While refactoring Pixelfed Groups, I wrote a new media processing pipeline that supports libvips and more formats, as well as the logic that handles optimizations, it no longer strips exif data and preserves color profiles and HDR support
It also uploads to S3 and deletes the local copy during the request lifecycle!
I'm working on a central link preview service for Pixelfed Groups, eliminating the herd of elephants problem when a post contains a link
Instead of every Pixelfed server fetching that metadata themselves, they will request it from a single server endpoint that I will operate to reduce load on the origin
I understand this may not be ideal, so I do plan on allowing admins to define their own server endpoint, and will be publishing the source code for our implementation!
There are over 8K LoC for Pixelfed Groups atm, and that will likely double in the coming months (mobile apps, federation, etc...)
It's the most complex feature we've ever shipped, and we've pioneered several mod and safety tools to enable the best experience across Pixelfed instances
Rest assured, I will show the fediverse how it's done 💅
One more thing, not only am I releasing Pixelfed Groups but also an api spec and open source groups mobile app that will be compatible with any server that implements the simple api spec!
The api spec is different from the fediverse spec, and we aim to be compatible with other implementations!
A dedicated Groups app with multiple account support, push notifications and share extensions will go a long way to help standardize the experience.
Pixelfed Groups has a feature called SlowJoin mode that allows you to define fine-grained permission limits for several actions.
In addition, all group activities from users, mods and admins are logged in an easy to browse Interaction Log. Should you need to apply limits to a specific member, you can limit most actions on the member tab!
We pioneered the concept of cross group moderation in 2021, and are in the final stages of implementation.
Facebook has certainly become a dumpster of #ai generated ”science” groups that are just honeypots for tinfoil sites.
However, these operators fool the algorithm into thinking it’s important precisely by putting on the front lies that the science-minded will want to correct, but enough will support because it fits their confirmation bias. This promotes a fight.
It’s like an industry repeating the pattern of antivaxx groups in mid 2010’s. 🤦♂️